The top 8/9 clubs have reasons to be hopeful, two will be fighting it out for survival & one has to seriously get itís act together. The top 4/6 however is difficult to predict. As for top 4 Sarries will be there & judging by the consistency of their performances I canít see the Champions not making it. Flats is still super confident about Wasps but surely what happened to us after reaching the final could happen to them? We live in hope! That being a possibility would leave two places up for grabs & I can see Falcons, Saints, Tigers & ourselves in with a chance. I will stick my neck out & exclude Falcons as I donít think the brilliance of their attacking play will compensate adequately for defensive frailties. As far as Bath is concerned we have been something of the curateís egg. As much as I applaud those 3 tight fought wins the main qualities in each were defence, line out & Roko. I still want to see much more from Watson & Joseph who havenít shone as they should do. Injuries are well spread amongst our rivals & we are better off than others having survived the tighthead scares so no excuses there. For me we need to inject more fluency & incisiveness into our attacking play to become likely top 4 contenders because bonus points will be key. I am, however, now more confident we will make top 6. Based on what Iíve seen so far & how I think things will pan out I will go for a final top 6 of Exeter, Saracens, Leicester, Wasps, Bath & Northampton/Newcastle in that order but everything is truly up for grabs & with a bit of tweaking we could be at Twickenham.

Bath Hammer we are better off than others having survived the tighthead scares.

Don't speak too soon! We only need one of AP or HT hurting themselves in what is an attritional position on the field and we are back in those scares...

I haven't seen much to think that the final sittings will be very different from what we thought at the start of the season, and we have international absences to consider as well as some who have had easier / harder starts to the season (see Exe last year).

Need Kahn and Freddie to start, and I'm confident the full potential of our backline can start to show itself! Well though Cook and Priestland have played, neither has really got the vision or range of passing to keep the opposition honest and release the outside backs into space. Hopefully KF and FB will get a few games together now to show this.

Very early indeed to be counting chickens about a top 4 or 6. IMHO very foolish indeed. Not to mention that old chestnut 'tempting fate'! We need to worry about Bath's form and the repetitive series of injuries and let other clubs worry about theirs! -

Adoptee for 2017/18 James Phillips - newly arrived and bringing a wealth of experience in the Prem!

annie blackthornIMHo you should add "imho" to your paragraph.
Very early indeed to be counting chickens about a top 4 or 6. IMHO very foolish indeed. Not to mention that old chestnut 'tempting fate'! We need to worry about Bath's form and the repetitive series of injuries and let other clubs worry about theirs! -

Youíre quite right Annie - IMHO - as used by a previous contributor to this board I donít believe in tempting fate as things can go one way or the other regardless of what I think.

22DropoutNeed Kahn and Freddie to start, and I'm confident the full potential of our backline can start to show itself! Well though Cook and Priestland have played, neither has really got the vision or range of passing to keep the opposition honest and release the outside backs into space. Hopefully KF and FB will get a few games together now to show this.

After the first 2 games they were suggesting Priestland's form was worthy of Welsh recall.

byWonder how much longer Saints will hold on for, they haven't really made any changes to squad or coaching staff, if anything its weaker without Picamoles.

Alex King left during last season, Alan Dickens seems to be doing a good job as attack coach as we're a lot better than we were.

Glaws not in the mix? One contributor on the Saints forum has maintained for some time now that they're "nailed on" for the top 4 since Akermann joined them, and that signing a couple of big SA lumps after their season finishes will transform them. I have my doubts.

Glaws tight 5 just doesn't seem to be good enough to play Ackerman's game, feels as though they knock on every other pass they receive. Still probably best to wait until we've seen what Owen Williams can do for them.

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